So I am entering my 3rd year in my fishing club as a Non-Boater. We are based out of East Michigan and only fish Erie, St.Clair and the Detroit River. Naturally we only fish for Small Mouth and sometimes large mouth if we have no choice. I have been fishing with the same guy for the last couple years. And, he knows only one way of fishing big lakes.... Drifting / Dragging. We Drag for hours. Now, do not get me wrong, we catch fish. I came in 3rd place last year, so I cant complain too much. But, the same guys keep beating us and they talk about how they are moving around the lakes (Erie / St. Clair) all day long. My boater is really open minded and agrees that we need to try a different game plan on fishing a more localized area as opposed to drifting over a half mile pile of rocks.
My thought is to use the trolling motor more and keep us drifting slower and reel in our lures (tubes) until we find a school and then attack that specific area.
Can anyone share their ideas or practices on big water?
Additional info: We do not use the fish-finder to spot fish. Even if we catch fish on a specific drift, we will continue on the drift until we hit weeds or not a rocky bottom.
